Property developers facing a squeeze

China reporter Lucy Gao reviews the major business news making headlines every day in both the Chinese and English language press.

China Securities Journal

■ Zhou Xiaochuan, the governor of China’s central bank, warned against possible inflation in 2012 during a recent interview.

■ China’s securities regulator has mandated members of its mergers and acquisition committee to sell their stocks or apply to have their securities trading accounts locked within a month after accepting their appointments.

■ Overall net asset value of China public mutual funds came to 2.1 trillion yuan ($322.8 billion) at the end of 2011, down 13 per cent from a year earlier, according to Galaxy Securities.

■ Analysts believe the government will not easily relax its clampdown on excessively high property prices this year. With the tight policy in place and housing prices falling, property developers may face difficulties in 2012.

■ China will try to extract 30 billion cubic metres of coal bed methane in 2015, a sharp increase from 7.5 billion cu m in 2010, according to the National Development and Reform Commission.

■ A nearly 22 per cent slump in China’s sharemarket last year resulted in a drop of 300 billion yuan ($46.1 billion) in total assets under management by Chinese fund companies.

Economic Information Daily

■ Several structural tax reduction policies, including import tariff cut for 730 kinds of commodities, tax preference for micro- and small-sized firms and a pilot program for replacing turnover tax with value-added tax have been introduced in the new year.

China Business News

■ Average prices for Shanghai land zoned for housing slumped 41 per cent in 2011 due to the government’s clampdown on the red-hot property market.

China Daily

■ China should play an even greater role in global affairs in 2012 amid instability and uncertainty in many parts of the world, said Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi.

■ New measures will be introduced to boost consumption, especially for vehicles and electrical appliances, as export demand weakens, said Huang Hai, former assistant minister of commerce.

■ Risk control is expected to be a chief topic during the approaching two-day National Financial Work Conference, and a new financial state-owned assets regulator is expected to take that responsibility analysts said.

People’s Daily

■ The Foreign Ministry lodged a solemn representation and a strong protest with Japan after four right-wing local city assembly members landed on one of the Diaoyu Islands on Tuesday morning.